Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions. Yu Hyongwon and the Late Choson Dynasty - James B. Palais

916 FINANCIAL REFORM AND THE ECONOMY

by officials in the capital would pay T 20 mun/year. Shops granted land by the
state under Yu's scheme of land distribution would pay a heavier tax, 240
mun/year, and no taxes would be imposed on private shops in the residential
areas of local vi \lages, defined as shops that received no grants of land from the
state. Prior to the adoption of his land grants system, shopkeepers would not be
subjected to personal labor service, but after its adoption, they would be liable
for it.5~

Cash Payments and Respect Relations

Yu realized, of course, that his plan for government-funded travel expenses for
anyone on official business conflicted with accepted sensibilities about the priv-
ileges of rank. The government previously had not provided travel expenses to
yangban not because they had sufficient wealth, but because their exalted sta-
tus allowed them the privilege of making demands on the local population for
services. Yu noted that it was proper to make a distinction between noble and
base (kwich on) people and require that commoners treat yangban with respect:
"To treat as noble those who are noble and to respect the worthy is really an
appropriate principle, and if commoners do not treat yangban with respect but
insult them and encroach upon them, they would really deserve to be punished."
Nevertheless, the principle of respect had nothing to do with government com-
pensation for travel expenses. The problem with respect for status, however,
was that

in our country whenever we mention the two words, nobility and baseness,

we only do it [to justify] oppressing and coercing people, and when someone

is called a yangban it causes trouble everywhere. The people who live by the

side of the road hate the yang ban and regard them as the source of suffering,

and for that reason they try to keep their homes small and simple. How could

the yangban help but feel ashamed over this') The reason why the products

made by artisans are so shoddy is because the officials force them to do it, and

why merchants and shopkeepers do not go to the market is because the officials

force them to sell [at low prices]. We must change our customs with respect to

these matters, for only then could all these things be done the right way and

could it be possible for [common] people to meet their obligation to treat men

of true nobility with respect.^59

Yu's explication for his reason for government funding of all travel expenses

irrespective of the status of the individual was designed to put to rest any fear

that his advocacy of cash in the market would destroy the nexus of interpersonal

relations based on respect that was so fundamental to Korean society at that time.

The traditional elite must have feared that cash was the symbol of a society ori-

ented toward profit, and that the exaltation of currency might well destroy the

best aspect of traditional Korean society. Yu, however, insisted that cash would